Social trading focused Retail FX and CFDs broker eToro is continuing its expansion plans, announcing the acquisition of e-money firm Marq Millions and the launch of a UK debit card service. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Marq Millions will be rebranded as eToro Money, and will be the issuer for eToro’s card.

eToro said the card will initially be available to eToro Club members only in the UK. After that plans are to expand to eToro clients in Europe, and will later be extended to non-eToro users.

eToro said it has over 14 million registered users, and expects take-up of the card to be strong. An eToro spokesperson said that the card could now provide instant ‘cash-out and cash-in’ functionality to customers, a feature which their client base has been requesting for a while.

Marq Millions, now eToro Money, has a Principal Membership with VISA and an EMI License permission from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Commenting on the acquisition, eToro co-founder and CEO Yoni Assia said in a statement:

“The launch of a debit card is a natural next step for eToro as we broaden the range of services that we provide to our users. The debit card will provide instant cash-out and cash-in functionality, greatly improving the user experience. We expect to see a strong take-up of the card – initially from our client base.”

eToro offers trading in a range of Forex pairs and CFDs on indices, stocks and commodities, as well as trading in crypto instruments such as Bitcoin. The Israel based company has licensed subsidiaries in Cyprus, the UK and Australia. eToro is backed by a number of institutional investors including China’s Ping An and Russia’s Sberbank.

Mahmood Kamran, former COO of Marq Millions and now Managing Director of eToro Money, commented:

“We are incredibly excited to become part of the eToro Group. The backing of this leading global fintech, will allow us to issue a debit card which we are confident will become a market leader globally.”

The timing of the eToro announcement is interesting in that it comes not long after an online brokerage rival, Robinhood, surprised investors with a delay in its UK launch plans.